The Gothic Features In Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte and her only work Wuthering Heights receive high evaluation in the world of literature, which gets comments from different angles by critics all over the world. Based on careful reading and study of the novel, the thesis is about gothic elements in Wuthering Heights from the perspective of theme, narration and setting.The thesis is made up of three chapters. In Chapter one "Gothicness in Theme", the thesis analyses the theme of Wuthering Heights from the perspective of characteristics of gothic novel, such as suspense, illusion, terror. Emily Bronte develops the gothic theme by many conflicts, that is---the conflicts between kindness and evilness, and the conflicts between affection and hatred. Anyone can be kind, can be evil. Take Heathcliff for example, compared with Hindley, he is kind and Hindley is evil. While compared with Edgar, he is evil and Edgar is kind. In the novel, Emily develops the plots in the form of conflicts between the characters. Affection and hatred is another line in the story. In the thesis, the writer mainly talks bout affection and hatred between Catherine and Heathcliff and between Catherine and Edgar.Chapter two "Gothicness in Narration" discusses the narration feature of Wuthering Heights. Narration is an important way to present the novel, and there are different narration styles. Emily goes beyond traditional way of narration, but uses special narration techniques to present her story:first, she uses flashback narration to tell a different story, yet creates the atmosphere of suspense and horror. Second, she uses two perspectives of narration to narrate the story from two different angles---that is by two different people---one is Nelly, a character in the story, who takes part in or at least witnesses most of the happening in the story, but she has her own limitations; so there is another one--Lockwood, a complete stranger and total outsider, who is a tenant of the Heights. The two narrators have different roles in the story, thus they can tell the story from different angles and harmonize the characters in the story. However, no matter which narrator, they are the speakers of the writer and speak her voice.Chapter three "Gothicness in Setting" focuses on the setting of the story. Setting is the carrier of the story and without setting there is no story. Setting in Wuthering Heights can be divided into two parts---the surroundings and the atmosphere. Surroundings include Heights, Grange, individual rooms where specific event happened and the outside of Heights and Grange. Just because the setting of the story is mysterious, isolated or horrible, the story creates an atmosphere of tense and horror.With the discussions and analysis above, we can see Emily Bronte personally. The purpose of this thesis is to show the gothic charm of Wuthering Heights, thus attracts more readers to appreciate classic works, especially young people.